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Why did Teo Ho Pin's team award tender to company without core competencies or skills?

According to the coordinating chairman of 14 PAP town councils, the computerised management system of the 14 town councils was tendered out to AIM (a PAP controlled company), and AIM subsequently engaged National Computer Services (NCS) to maintain and further develop the system. That sounds like a sensible explanation until you recall that it was developed and maintained by NCS prior to the tender being called.

Prior to this tender, the PAP town councils owned the system, and paid NCS to develop the system, presumably using the monies residents pay for service & conservancy (S&C) charges. 7 of these 14 town councils have subsequently raised the S&C charges. AIM which now owns the rights to the database management system, currently charges the 14 town councils $131,880 per year to maintain the system.

In the face of this, the chairman of the town council has got to be more transparent, and answer the following questions:

1. How much did the PAP town councils spend in initially tasking NCS to develop the system?

2. Which funds did the PAP town councils use?

3. What was the amount the PAP town councils were paying NCS to maintain the system, prior to AIM winning the bid?

4. Why were the rights to the system sold for only $140,000, when AIM could potentially charge the town councils $923,160 from 2010, till the dissolution of the current Parliament in 2016?

5. Could the raising of S&C charges been avoided, or a smaller raise been possible, if the town councils themselves had owned the system, and contracted NCS directly to maintain the system?

6. The fact that AIM outsources the maintenance and further development of the software to NCS after winning the tender, makes it apparent that AIM does not have the necessary core skills or competencies for such a job. That being the case, on what basis was the tender awarded to AIM?

7. Since AIM is apparently a company without the necessary core skills or competencies to be awarded such a contract, and the fact that there was only one bid, should not have the coordinating body of the 14 PAP town councils, called for a second tender to invite more suitably qualified companies to bid for the ownership of the software?

Teo Ho Pin, the coordinating chairman of the 14 town councils, has to provide additional justification as to why he considers the single bid by a company without core competencies or skills, competitive or reflective of market prices, before a decision is made to award such a contract to AIM.

"Where were the Farid Khans and the Salleh Maricans? Why didn't they come?... Because they knew that in an open election - all things being equal - a non-Chinese candidate would have no chance."
Having contested an election as a minority candidate, I am disturbed enough by his comments to write this note. Let me explain why.

Simple answer for PM Lee

I declined invitations to contest the 2011 General Election. This was because I was at a different stage of my life. My children were much younger, I had just come back from the USA a few years before and had to re-establish my career here. I did not know if I had the temperament for public life. These were just some of the reasons why I chose to decline those invitations.

Even in 2011, the pool of people who could qualify for the Presidential race was small.…

The Ministry of Communication and Information (MCI) has taken out a Facebook ad titled, 'Get real about fake news', The ad is taken out after the PAP-controlled Parliament passed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation (POFMA) Bill, with all opposition Members of Parliament voting against the Bill.

The ad draws attention to the viral hoax that Punggol Waterway Terraces had collapsed. The ad said "the hoax triggered anxiety amongst the residents", and urged Singaporeans to "say no to fake news".

It is unfortunate that a website published such an unverified report, and it is certainly unacceptable that it caused much anxiety to the residents of the development (and to all Singaporeans). The publishers and the editors of the website acted irresponsibly in posting the report of the 'collapse' without proper verification, and no one should make any excuses for them for this.

In my walkabouts in your constituency, you had raised some questions with my team and me. I address a couple of more important ones here.

Why were you not here earlier?
I have worked with the less-privileged in the community for a fairly long time. The homeless families I work with come from all constituencies. When I blog about various issues, it concerns a good number of Singaporeans from various constituencies. For example, you were just as affected by the recent massive MRT breakdown as someone living in Aljunied. So, when I was making myself counted on such issues, I was doing so also on your behalf.

I have a family and held a full-time job. As the main breadwinner, my priority like most of you, is my family and my job. As such, time, resources and money for my activism for the society and speaking up on the various issues are very limited. Whatever activism I did, whatever issues I speak up on are done on a voluntary basis. I do not earn almost a mi…